2011's Unofficial Half-Year Awards: The Submissions

The Highly Unofficial Half-Year awards continue with the top submissions of 2011 thus far...

2011 has already seen its share of memorable submission wins, from those that dazzled with technical excellence to ones that pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. Here are five of the best thus far.

5 – Lentz pulls off late comebackUnbeaten in a UFC career that began seven fights ago, in 2009, Minnesota’s Nik Lentz lives up to the old adage “refuse to lose.” Case in point, his March battle with fellow wrestler Waylon Lowe, which wasn’t going so well for him during the first 10 minutes. Entering the third and final round, Lentz was trailing on the scorecards, and while he willingly stood and traded blows with Lowe, nothing seemed to be making a dent in his opponent’s chin. Then came Plan B, and as Lowe looked for yet another takedown, Lentz found his neck and submitted him via guillotine choke for one of the most stirring comebacks of the year thus far. The submission wasn’t bad either. WATCH FIGHT REPLAY

4 – Weidman powers his way to win over BongfeldtAfter aggravating a knee injury during his UFC 131 bout with Jesse Bongfeldt, Chris Weidman might have panicked, given that it was only his sixth professional MMA fight. But instead, the New Yorker stayed calm, waited for his moment, and even though it came with just seconds remaining in the first round, when he was able to lock in a standing guillotine choke on his opponent, he went all in to finish, and he did, getting Bongfeldt to tap out at the 4:54 mark of the round. WATCH FIGHT REPLAY

3 – Lauzon is one nasty finisherA lot of fighters like to brag about their submission skills before a bout, saying “yeah, I’m gonna take his arm home with me.” Well, that doesn’t really happen now, does it? Joe Lauzon didn’t say such things before his June bout with Curt Warburton, but he almost pulled it off (pardon the pun) with a vicious kimura that followed a knockdown that you thought the New Englander was going to use to finish the fight with strikes. Instead, he yanked at Warburton’s arm and got the tap out with one of the most painful looking kimuras we’ve seen in a while. That Lauzon, he isn’t getting paid for overtime; he’s a finisher. WATCH FIGHT REPLAY

2 – Garza takes to the air to submit JabouinThe odds of Pablo Garza topping his highlight reel knockout of Fredson Paixao in December of last year against Canada’s Yves Jabouin in April were slim and none. That’s how devastating the finish was. So what did the North Dakota product do for an encore? Only a flying triangle that thrilled the over 55,000 fans in Toronto’s Rogers Centre and those watching at home. And while Garza didn’t initially finish the bout when the two hit the mat, he did so seconds later, garnering him an A for effort and for the eventual tap out by Jabouin at 4:31 of the first round. WATCH UFC 129 REPLAY1 – “The Korean Zombie” makes submission historyBefore Chan Sung Jung’s March rematch with Leonard Garcia, you might have assumed that the fight game of “The Korean Zombie” started and finished with his ability to brawl. Maybe Garcia, who defeated Jung in their classic 2010 bout, figured the same thing. He might have even thought that he was safe as the seconds wound down in round two in Louisville. But that’s when Jung struck with Eddie Bravo’s “Twister,” a painful maneuver that had never finished a fight in the UFC – well, up until Garcia’s tap out at 4:59 of the second round. WATCH UFC FIGHT NIGHT LIVE REPLAY

Related Topics

Related News

Medios

Reciente

Popular

The Rankings Report is a weekly UFC.com series that gives you, the fans, an in-depth look into the official UFC rankings. This week Matt Parrino and Forrest Griffin talk about all that went down at UFC 184, including Ronda Rousey's big win.

mar 3, 2015

UFC Minute host Lisa Foiles looks at the newly announced co-main event for the UFC's debut in the Philippines and a welterweight clash between Neil Magny and Hyun Gyu Lim.

mar 3, 2015

No. 1 welterweight contender Johny "Bigg Rigg" Hendricks lands a solid left hook to Martin Kampmann and ends the night with a KO victory in the first round. Hendricks takes on Matt Brown during the main card at UFC 185 in Dallas, Texas.

Ronda Rousey and challenger Cat Zingano have an intense split-screen interview after media day. Then it's time to work out and make weight for the stars of UFC 184, including opponents Raquel Pennington and Holly Holm and a salsa-dancing Josh Koscheck.

feb 27, 2015

UFC champion Ronda Rousey and challenger Cat Zingano appear for fans at open workouts. Zingano goes in search of the lightest bikini on the market, then dresses up for what turns out to be an intense staredown against the equally-formal titleholder.

feb 26, 2015

Days before her Octagon debut, Holly Holm ventures from her hometown to Tinseltown. Already in LA, UFC champion Ronda Rousey and title challenger Cat Zingano put on their game faces for photo shoots and promo interviews building up to their UFC 184 bout.

feb 25, 2015

Ronda Rousey loads up on cardio and inspiration at Glendale Fighting Club. Jake Ellenberger also trains there alongside Hollywood’s own boxing star, Mickey Rourke, while his opponent Josh Koscheck prepares in Fresno for his Octagon return.